The US and Russia introduced on Wednesday a prisoner swap that has freed Trevor R. Reed, a former Marine who was convicted on prices that his household mentioned had been bogus, in trade for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced to a prolonged time period in america on cocaine-trafficking prices.
“Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention,” President Biden mentioned in a press release. “I heard within the voices of Trevor’s mother and father how a lot they’ve apprehensive about his well being and missed his presence. And I used to be delighted to have the ability to share with them the excellent news about Trevor’s freedom.”
The settlement was the results of “prolonged negotiations,” in line with Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian International Ministry.
Mr. Reed’s household confirmed his launch in a press release, saying that they might now focus on “the myriad of well being points introduced on by the squalid circumstances he was subjected to in his Russian gulag.”
A local of Texas, Mr. Reed traveled to Russia in Could 2019 to go to his Russian girlfriend, whom he had met on a relationship web site, and to take language classes. One week earlier than his deliberate return to america, Mr. Reed went to a celebration at a park exterior Moscow, the place he drank intensive quantities of vodka.
Mr. Reed bought agitated, prompting his girlfriend and buddies to name the police. Officers who arrived on the scene determined to take him to the station, the place Mr. Reed was interviewed by Russian safety brokers. Shortly after, he was accused of assaulting and endangering the lives of the 2 cops who had pushed him there.
After spending greater than 11 months in a Russian jail, Mr. Reed was sentenced to 9 years in jail, the primary time that such a extreme punishment had been utilized for that kind of crime, his legal professionals mentioned. At one level throughout a listening to, Mr. Reed mentioned that the case in opposition to him was political and linked his troubles in Russia to his army affiliation.
